CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt signed a deal with Saudi Arabian utility developer ACWA Power on Thursday to build a $2.3 billion power plant in the country’s south, the Egyptian electricity minister said.

The plant, which will have a capacity of 2,250 megawatts (MW), will be built in Luxor province, the minister, Mohamed Shaker, told a news conference.

He said the facility is expected to be operational by 2023 at the latest.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi opened three new power stations in July built at a total cost of 6 billion euros ($7 billion) as part of the country’s plans to plug a gap in power generation and fuel its development drive.

Acute power shortages in the years immediately following Egypt’s 2011 uprising led to frequent summer blackouts and cuts to industrial output.

The new projects initiated in 2015 are part of an 8 billion euro deal to boost electricity generation by 50 percent through new gas and wind power plants.